March 10, 2003
See also: The Struggle To Report Illegal Aliens: A Status Report
With all this hoopla about homeland security, why isn't there a "Terrorism Information and Prevention System" that Americans can really use? Why not start reporting illegal aliens and criminal alien residents?
Illegal aliens are subject to deportation at any time. Their very presence violates federal law.
Lawful permanent resident aliens – that is, anyone with a "green card"– also can become deportable if they are convicted of certain crimes. These criminal alien residents can lose their permanent resident status and be deported right along with the illegal aliens and non-immigrant visa overstayers – if the proper authorities only knew about them.
The new Department of Homeland Security is the proper authority to whom to report the presence of
The DHS has background information on reporting "suspected illegal aliens or suspected illegal immigration activity." For now, this link sends you right back to the former Immigration and Naturalization Service field offices, now part of the DHS' service-oriented Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services - BCIS.
Though it looks like BCIS took over the INS web site, all the law enforcement agents are still at the former INS field offices anyhow, since no new facilities sprang up overnight when the INS left the Department of Justice on March 1, 2003.
The law enforcement components of the former INS are now called the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement – BICE (field offices) and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection – BCPS (field offices).
To report an illegal alien, look up the nearest existing field office and ask for the (BICE) Investigations Division or the "Enforcement Office." If you cannot speak with a Special Agent from the Investigations Division, ask to speak to a Deportation Officer from the Detention and Removal unit. Make a report over the phone or go in person.
You are performing a vital public service by doing this. Officers in these divisions are obligated by law to make a written record of your report.
The groups U.S Border Control and illegalalien.net also list ex-INS field office contact numbers.
If you live in a border area – roughly, within 50 miles of the border - you have the better option of reporting the presence of illegal aliens to the nearest BCBP or Border Patrol field office. You can either call or go in person.
If there is no Border Patrol station listed nearby, contact the nearest Sector Office to find out if there is a local sub-station that is not listed on the web site.
Like the former INS, the Department of Homeland Security still doesn't have a way to report illegal aliens over the internet. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation does!
Thanks to a recent delegation of authority by Attorney General John Ashcroft to the FBI Director, all Special Agents of the FBI now have the power to enforce immigration law.
So send your internet tips to the FBI on https://tips.fbi.gov/ or contact them the old-fashioned way, by calling or writing one of the FBI field offices.
(The DHS has a guide for how to "report a missing person suspected of falling victim to dangers along the border." This public service is part of the "border safety initiative" of its alien-friendly BCIS - proving that the BCIS already is living up to its legacy as the reincarnation of all the INS "customer service" bureaus.)
Illegal aliens and criminal alien residents might be up to some type of fraud against the Social Security system too. For them, false documents are a way of life. The Office of Inspector General of the Social Security Administration operates a fraud hotline for reporting misuse of social security cards and false statements on claims – whether by employers or employees.
Prosecuting Social Security fraud has been used successfully to tie-up terrorist suspects, even if they are not illegal aliens. Report criminal violators to the FBI for prosecution by the U.S. Attorney.
Though it has been accused of giving cover to illegal aliens through tax ID numbers, the Internal Revenue Service also accepts citizen reports on general tax fraud including "earned income tax credit" abuse. The IRS' criminal investigation division handles employment tax fraud reports.
The Department of Health and Human Services maintains a hotline for reporting Medicare or Medicaid fraud, child non-support, AFDC fraud, and abuse of related programs.
Also, believe it or not, all male illegal aliens (as well as male permanent resident aliens, ages 18 through 25) must register with the Selective Service System. If they do not register, they can be prosecuted for a felony and fined up to $250,000 and/or be put in jail for up to five years. They also may not then be eligible for U.S. citizenship.
And there are state penalties for failing to register. Selective Service registration is conveniently available in Spanish. Report draft registration violators to the FBI for prosecution by the U.S. Attorney.
What will the DHS actually do when you call?
It will take the information down, as it is legally obligated to do....and quite probably not much else.
It may get interested in a criminal alien, an alien that's the subject of some other type of investigation - for example an Arab terrorist, an alien smuggler - or an alien who has been deported before.
Non-criminal aliens might be sent a letter by the Deportation and Removal section, saying, in effect, "Dear Mr. Alien, you have been already ordered removed by an immigration judge, or we know you have overstayed your status, please come in to the office to be deported, bring one bag." (These are known as "run letters," for obvious reasons.) But even this doesn't always happen.
But none of this should make any difference to VDARE.COM readers. Your report will be on record. The government will know about it – and will know we know it knows about it.
The Chinese say a journey of a thousand miles must start with one step. Americans can start regaining control of their borders - and of their nation's destiny – with one phone call.
